ABSTRACT
Algeria has experienced remarkable transformations since the end of the
1980s. This process of transition, with all its societal consequences, has gone
through changing sequences. The process has witnessed periods of great
success, while other periods were marked by blatant failures. Reforming the
political system and introducing multiparty elections were important devel-
opments in the country’s post-independence history. Yet the annulment in
January 1992 of the second round of parliamentary elections held in
December 1991 and the decreeing of a state of emergency in March 1992 were indicative of the entrenched resistance to change. With the country
having plunged into a chasm of instability-as a result of the brutal conflict
and violence that followed the cancellation of the electoral process-it was
obvious that the reforms engaged could not be sustained with the same
degree of commitment.
